Fix the blank remote screen = Depressing

So after hours trying to get icons to show up on the screen of the remote, I realise we are supposed to own a Windows PC according to Allonis!!

The process for apple / linux users is not clear and unfortunately involves terminal commands.

I had to SSH into the device credentials: allonis/allonis, (open Terminal, then use the command "ssh allonis@YourIP" then enter the password allonis).
This will drop you into the "allonis" user folder view, you can go straight to the "applications" folder, or look around by dropping into the root folder (cd /).
DO NOT DO ANYTHING IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING,
This is LINUX, it is VERY unforgiving.

To fix the issue of the blurred screen / no icons;
Go to the /home/allonis folder, then the applications/myServer/wwwroot folder, you will see the smart remote template folder you downloaded in the second instruction page. This contains all the info the smartremote pulls (basically a simple web page)

You need to copy the "smartremote-sample" folder to make a new folder called "smartremote", based on several forum threads, with no clear instructions.

Once in this folder, use the following;
cp -R ~/applications/myServer/wwwroot/smartremote-sample ~/applications/myServer/wwwroot/smartremote

This copies all files (-R recursively) to the new folder. Then restart the remote.

Now I have my "Living Room" show up on the remote & a start for the devices in there. The shelf mounted RPi4 is a pretty standard Linux install, so a lot of past experience will work here, but it's not for the faint hearted!! My next task is to get rsync images to backup at least weekly to my local UnRAID server, then upload to my seedbox NextCloud server for redundancy.

This should be way more consumer friendly, ala Logitech.

Painful stuff.

 

It doesn't seem like you are following the documentation.
allonis.com/support/documentation?view=category&id=412

I thought I did follow the instructions, as far as I could interpret them.

I am MacOS / linux based. I left the nightmare that is windows after Windows 7 and haven't looked back. I have no access to myDesigner as it is Windows based, I missed the caveat about renaming the folder, but in reality, this should be done once you download the template by the system, should it not?

Don't get me wrong, THIS IS VERY powerful and I can see the benefits going forward, I was just a bit baffled as to why pairing the rather expensive (optional) smart remote did not work out of the box.

The reason I bought your system is due to your background and knowledge, for the smart remote. I have tried and binned many other remotes, the last being the Sofabatton on KS, that was bricked after an "update" if you can believe that.

All my house automation is done via Homey / Hubitat, I don't need to add another layer. Homey has a great interface for doing automations, so I am happy with that. But adding in a small bit of automation to the TV room might be ok with the Allonis, I will see.

The reason no "universal remote" works out of the box is because there are no two systems that are the same.
And in the case of the SmartRemote / myServer / myDesigner, it's a balancing act of keeping the customization, scalability and then making it as easy as possible.
The reason for needing to manually changing the name is to not overwrite anyone's painstakingly made custom settings in their personal smartremote folder.
You could just use "smartremote-sample" in your smartremote settings but then you are at risk for next upgrade.

You may have read that myDesigner ultimately will be a web based myServer system not requiring Windows.  But that is a big project and no promises for release date.

This is a professional level product (that our competitors take Integrators several YEARS of training to achieve) that is trying to go downmarket to a DIY audience. Our roots were DIY and then grew to a commercial system years ago.